The Savage in Man: We’re All Psychopaths! (Or Maybe Not) When we think of psychopaths, many associate a lack of emotion and a cold detachment from the society the rest of us exist in. For some, the elegant and brilliant Hannibal Lecter is visualized or perhaps some nameless CEO in the oil business with no regard for anyone but himself. By definition, psychopathy is a mental disorder that makes it difficult or impossible for the afflicted to process emotions and experiences the way a majority of the population does. However, American popular culture has taken an affliction and equated it to serial killers, dehumanizing. Moments of blind rage, almost murderous intent triggered over superficial arguments in daily life brings up the question: …show more content…
It is found within the framework of every major world religion, in the Greek myths our popular culture is based on, and in our behavior. It’s not surprising one of the seven deadly sins is letting loose the wrath that we try to keep tamed every time someone cuts us off in traffic. Everyone (whether they choose to admit it or not) has wished death or pain on someone else, whether by their own hand or divine intervention. The difference between whether we choose to acknowledge these dark urges is what we think it means to be a psychopath. There are several theories within the nature vs. nurture debate, from the killer ape theory saying greater aggression was evolved as a survival adaptation or the hunting hypothesis as it speculates that hunting behaviors is what drove our evolution. We all have wrath within us, but acting on these primal instincts to hurt and kill is what separates civilized man from …show more content…
As in, we’re in love with the idea of them. There are a plethora of fictional psychopaths and serial killers to choose from, from the vigilante Dexter, Gotham city’s own Batman, or Silence of the Lamb’s iconic Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill. Right behind the fictional monsters, we also have authentic ones, such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Jack the Ripper, guilty of crimes straight out of horror novels (or inspiring them). Human pride, our hubris, is almost a measure of how far we’re willing to go against the rules of nature. We attempt to create life, prolong it, and take it away in a variety of gruesome ways. And who else is closer to God than the one who smites down his creations? It is estimated that “There are over 29,000,000 psychopaths worldwide” (Kiehl) and many are found within the top tiers of corporate hierarchies. Often, the psychopaths who escalate in society are the ones well-practiced in superficial charm and manipulation, although in a business setting it’s more commonly referred to as people
Psychopaths are typically devoid of emotion, and have an inherent sense of superiority that drives them to take actions that society considers
One of the biggest and most dangerous problems is a condition called psychopathy, which can also be known as moral insanity. Wade E. Pricken describes this condition as “The psychopath was a person who wore a ‘mask of sanity,’ who outwardly appeared normal, charming, and gregarious, but whose behavior could be utterly destructive.” (Pricken 86). This means that people with this condition have no sense of morals or empathy to others. Everything else about them is normal, but they do not care for any other human except themselves. This can cause them to perform violent action against other, and have no guilt of any kind.
The group of people that I chose to do intelligence research on was psychopaths, particularly serial killers. I did not focus on any particular subgroup, however there are subtypes of psychopaths such as primary and secondary and among those two subtypes it is further broken down into distempered and charismatic subtypes. In the article Psychopathy: Manipulation, Deception, and Evil, author Pamela Kulbarsh (2012) defines a psychopath as “a morally depraved individual who represent the ‘monsters’ in our society; an unstoppable and untreatable predator whose violence is planned, purposeful and emotionless” (p.1). While in the article it states that not all psychopaths are law-breakers that is a different story with serial killers
In this world, there are people who are able to shoot, bludgeon, or torture a whole family and then sleep peacefully just hours after. Serial Killers have piqued the American public’s interest for generations. In the 1970s, for example, America was enthralled by the danger and fear of Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy, famous serial killers who killed a combined number of over a hundred people. Following suit of the popularity of serial killers, they have become ingrained in our culture through art, books, news, talk-shows, and movies. A famous example of this trend is in Flannery O’Connor’s ”A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, where the antagonist, The Misfit, brutally murders a family of six. O’Connor described The Misfit as a calm, polite, analytical, morally-confused, murderer with leadership skills and “strong white teeth.” This archetype, a person who can be perfectly calm while being aggressive and lacks a sense of right or wrong, has also been an interest of study in the medical field. The medical community has come together for patients that are described as lacking a moral conscious, naming their disorder psychopathy (Robinson). In Flannery O’Connor’s ”A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The Misfit exhibits signs of psychopathy, shown from his manipulating control over Bobby Lee and Hiram, and staying calm while he directly and indirectly kills six people.
As the Daily Mail reports, serial killers or better known as psychopaths, have been a part of society for a very long time. And we've seen
We all have used the word psychopath or sociopath even watched movies where the words are used to describe a specific person who is crazy. But are we really using the word that actually suit the. First let's define both words, a sociopath is a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. And psychopath is a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. They both are a form of mental disorder, but one is violent, while the other one is not. The 1960 movie Psycho shows the character Norman Bates, that has the trait of a Psychopath how violent he is in the movie. A psychopath is dangerous. They’re violent and cruel, and oftentimes
Believe it or not, many people in today’s society cannot really distinguish between the two terms, psychopath and sociopath. Back in the early 1800s, the doctors that were working with mental patients began to realize that some of their patients who appeared outwardly normal had what they termed a “moral depravity” or “moral insanity”. These patients seemed to have no sense of the rights of other people, or even of ethics in general. The term psychopath was initially applied to these individuals around the beginning of the twentieth century. In the 1930s, the term switched to sociopath to focus more heavily on the detrimental effect that these people can have on
Psychopaths are the group of people who kill over a longer period of time without being caught or stopped. Unlike mass murderers, who may kill many people at one time, psychopaths usually have reasons for killing, they will plan out where, when, why and how before they actually kill. Many enjoy cannibalism, necrophilia, and like to keep the body parts as trophies. There violent behavior is usually
With different media such as books, articles, and databases, this paper’s primary goal is to grab one’s attention and inform one on issues relating to personality, mental illness, and conditions such as sociopathy and psychopathy. As mental disorders become more and more prevalent within the American population today, it is only necessary to inform oneself on the varying topics being discussed. To know how the mind works is merely one step into the mystery that is the human body, and it would be neglectful to approach such a topic without being properly prepared. Sociopathy and psychopathy are harming conditions, but as previously portrayed, things are much more complex than they seem. With the presence of new treatments for thousands of conditions increasing by the day, it is only a matter of time before the human race will be ever closer to understanding others as well as they do
However, the term “psychopath” shall not be confused with the term “sociopath”, As these individuals only present antisocial behavior due to socio-cultural and environmental factors, instead of their instinctive behaviors. This paper will focus on the definition for “psychopath” by Lykken (1995) which suggests the relationship between biological factors such as brain abnormalities and genetics and the further influences of social and environmental factors for the full development of this mental
Psychopathy is a disorder characterised by callousness, diminished capacity for remorse, superficial charm, and poor behavioural controls (Richell et al., 2003). Psychopathy has two subcategories, primary psychopathy and secondary psychopathy, both types are associated with hostility, impulsivity and aggression but secondary, unlike primary, is associated also with social anxiety, introversion, moodiness and low self-esteem (Blackburn & Fawcett, 1999, as cited in Ali & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2010).
Psychopathy is a common term used to “describe a grouping of personality traits that include such things as impulsive behavior, lack of regard for others, lack of a normal range of emotional responsiveness and frequent deception or manipulation of others” (Elements Behavioral Health). Antisocial Personality Disorder and psychopathy are used interchangeably to describe the psychological and personality disorder that causes one to disregard human life. While the American Psychiatric Association uses the terms interchangeably, many believe these two disorders to be similar, yet separate disorders. Many people do agree however that most psychopaths are afflicted with antisocial personality disorder. One major concept to know is that most psychopaths are antisocial personalities, but not all antisocial personalities are psychopaths (much like how a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not square). For the sake of avoiding confusion, the following research will focus on the aspect that most psychopaths are antisocial personalities in order to examine characters from the blockbuster hit, Silence of the Lambs.
These emotions, acts tend to reflect the dissociated state of mind of psychopaths; which reveals a low nervous system and lack of anxiety. However, it is hard to say what really motivates me these kinds of people. On the contrary, we can say that they tend to operate with a demeanor, attitude and appetite of a sadistic murder. he lacks of fear after committing such malicious crimes show that they thrive for acts of power and control to operate fully. Therefore, neurological research has been done on those who claim to have a new understanding of criminal behavior. For instance, imagine a high speeding vehicle with no active brakes It 's helpful to think of them as high-speed vehicles with ineffective brakes; the imbalance is similar to the hormone brain structure of a psychopath.
A psychopath can be best explained as, one who exhibits a lack of empathy and remorse. Someone suffering from this type of disorder can appear to be trustworthy and sincere on outward first impressions. They are usually engaged in repeated criminal activity and antisocial behavioral issues. They may find it hard to associate with society as a whole, and also find it hard to associate with their own identity and place in the world as well. A psychopath’s behavior suggests that they are unable to feel guilt and shame, and healthy relationships with others is unachievable, and will potentially end in violence. Prosecution will show that Cristian Nunez-Ortega painted a chilling picture of psychopathic control and destruction the day he committed the murders of Courtney Bradford, and her daughter, Jasmine.
Psychopathy is a personality disorder that can characterised into two types; Primary and Secondary Psychopathy. We learnt that generally Psychopaths have average to above average intelligence in comparison to what is considered your normal human being, they are often drawn to inflicting pain on animals/children/peers and lack the emotional capacity to feel remorse and/or feel any sort of emotional connection. (Hare et Al., 1991; Williamson, Hare & Wong, 1987). Primary Psychopathy is characterized by fearlessness, poor passive avoidance, weak electrodermal anticipation of punishment, and average levels of positive and negative emotionality.